1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a slide fastener and more particularly to an open end slide fastener having a separably top end stop.
2. Prior Art
There have been proposed many open end slide fasteners. A common drawback of such fastener is that when the fastener is fully closed, the opposed fastener tapes tend to flare up at their respective upper ends owing to a guide post or diamond portion of a slider which urges the tape ends apart and makes them pucker on each side of the slider. As a result, it becomes difficult to sew fastener having such flared and waved tape ends neatly onto a garment or the like.
An improvement has been made in the art such that an open end slide fastener can be held in closed disposition with respective tape ends aligned and straightened by providing a top end stop including a pair of lugs of which opposed inner edges form therebetween a substantially V-shaped opening for receiving the diamond portion of the slider when the fastener is fully closed. While this prior fastener device has accomplished the purpose of preventing the tape ends from getting spread apart or flared up, it has encountered a different drawback described below. The lugs of top end stop respectively secured to the tapes adjacent to or substantially integral with the endmost coupling elements are liable to hinder the smooth engagement or disengagement of the endmost coupling elements, when the slider moves past them in the fastener opening or closing direction. The slider tends to be stopped at a position just before the top end stop when the fastener is to be closed, letting the opposed fastener tapes flare up at their respective ends. The starting movement of the slider in the fastener opening direction is also prone to become sluggish, sometimes even impossible. Where the top end stop and the coupling elements are made of plastic material, the endmost coupling elements are subjected to deformation under heat and pressure during the integral formation of the top end stop with the endmost coupling elements. In this case, the foregoing problem becomes much worse.